The cancellation of the National Prize for the discipline by the Ministry of Culture has once again sparked controversy.
Bullfighting, which is considered part of Spain’s cultural heritage, is once again at the center of the debate in the Iberian country after the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, announced the cancellation of this year’s National Bullfighting Prize and that he would speed up the procedures for its definitive cancellation.
Urtasun has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the spectacle, which he considers to be based on animal cruelty, and in fact, this measure is in line with the electoral program of Sumar, the party to which the minister belongs, which proposed the abolition of the cultural and patrimonial protection of bullfighting and the abolition of its public funding.
Last week, in a television interview, the culture minister pointed out that “there is a majority of Spaniards who are increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals and who do not participate in the abuse of animals”.
He added that the majority of Spaniards are less and less aware of the fact that “animal torture is taking place in our country” and that “they are being awarded medals with cash prizes”, in other words, public money is being spent on them.
